Natural Born Pineapples
'Natural Born Pineapples '''are an American rock band that formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1980. The band disbanded in 1990 under acrimonious circumstances and personal issues but reunited in 2009. The original lineup consisted of Black Nolte (guitar, vocals) Jessiclown Vomit (keyboard/synth, backing vocals) Kelley Devine (bass) and Bobby Placebo (drums). NPB found only modest success in their home country, but were significantly more successful in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe, which included a 3 year reign on the Top charts with three different albums. Natural Born Pineapples style of experimental rock music is heavily influenced by punk, surf rock, and other psychedelic sources. While the music is highly melodic, it is capable of being tremendously abrasive at the same time. Most of their cryptic songs are about offbeat subjects, such as UFOs, Nazi's, Zombies, torture, and surrealism. References to mental instability and violent Biblical imagery can also be found throughout. Natural Born Pineapple's legacy and influence grew substantially in the years following their demise. History Formation Natural Born Pineapples was formed in the summer of 1980 by Black Nolte and Jessiclown Vomit, two students from Camden College who had just returned from a class trip to Luxembourg. Once they had a plan in motion they dropped out of college and purchased an old house with a garage. They dubbed this place, The Hidden Temple. This piece of shit was the birthplace of Natural Born Pineapples. Both Nolte and Vomit brainstormed ideas and established a sound of their own. They both agreed something was missing and started looking for members to join the band. In August Nolte and Vomit recruited Bobby Placebo, a talented drummer from the questionable punk band Titanium Cross. Weeks later the trio searched for a bass player to compliment them, they found their bass player in Kelley Devine. Devine was known on the west coast for her fingers and was a perfect fit. The band was ready to kick the door open for the rest of the decade. Record contract and ''Graveyard of Satisfaction '' While NBP were playing a concert with Oasis of Danger, they were noticed by producer Mickey Lourke. He told the band he "could not sleep until you guys became icons." The band produced a demo tape at The Hidden Temple and the 13 track tape was released exclusively as a demo to interested parties, including Jake Dickerson, who later became the bands manager. Uhhh Records took a chance on the band and signed them to a deal. 9 tracks from the demo were taken and turned into the band\'s first EP ''Graveyard of Satisfaction. The album\'s bleak and apocalyptic melody covered topics from Flesh eating ghouls to living lawnmowers. It was a unusual blend of whatever it was. First Tour With a batch of fresh material and enough tranquilizer to take down a football team the band hit the road for its first tour. Starting in Boston the band did figure eight through the country. They caused millions of dollars worth of damage to local hotels and went through three different tour buses in 5 months. It was a blitzkrieg of musical chaos. Leaving the country In the spring of 1982 NBP became bored with the United States and wanted to move somewhere more peaceful and nicer to look at. The band agreed on moving to Luxembourg, the very same place that inspired both Black Nolte and Jessiclown. The band sold The Hidden Temple to a diehard fan and packed everything they had. By the end of the summer the group had a studio built inside a cave somewhere in Luxembourg and made it their permanent home. During their time in "The Bat Cave" NBP produced a 3 disc album called, Walking With Armadillos. Walking With Armadillos In the middle of 1983 the world was taken by storm by Natural Born Pineapples second album, Walking With Armadillos. ''The album was a hit worldwide and the band had itself a hit single in the form of, Attack of the Nevaehsaurus Rex From Planet Zombie Nazi Clown, a song so catchy nobody listened to the lyrics. Armadillos'' was the number 1 album for nearly an entire year before being dethroned by Ein Zwei Die!, ''Natural Born Pineapples third studio album, released in 1984. ''Ein Zwei Die! Natural Born Pineapples produced Ein Zwei Die! ''after a week long World War II movie binge and a trip to Germany. Influenced by Nazism and a fascination with the 1940\'s, NBP completed the 8 track album in a month. Hits on this album included, Facist Flu, Awesome Auschwitz!, and Heil?. NBP had a musical hat trick on it's hands. World Tour and Tragedy In the first few months of 1985 Natural Born Pineapples embarked on a massive scale world tour. Starting in their hometown the band crossed the pond and went on a blitzkrieg through Great Britain and France. The tour was going better than planned as the band rolled into Germany with more confidence than a guy with a drunk prom date. The night before their last stop in Berlin, drummer Bobby Placebo never returned to the hotel NBP was staying at. The following morning the three concerned members called the police and started a search for their missing drummer. Two days into the investigation not a single shred of evidence was found. It wasn\'t until the third day that the police found anything. The follwing day the police uncovered the body of Bobby Placebo. He was beaten and gutted like a fish. Whoever killed Placebo left the body in a dumpster behind a South Berlin Bar. Upon hearing the news, Natural Born Pineapples ended their world tour and took the body back to Luxembourg. Hiatus A long and somber silence fell over the land in the following months, as the band mourned the loss of their friend. The world waited with bated breath for a follow-up to their previous hit to materialize. Word eventually spread that bassist, Kelley Divine, had written and recorded a series of solo demos predominantly in the sappy love genre. The songs were co-written and strongly influenced by Kelley's new partner, Lori Hodge. They had met during the 2nd leg of NBP's tour, which almost immediately caused tension within the band. Like Yoko Ono, but a lesbian. Enraged that she had gone behind their backs to start a solo career in the wake of a fellow band member's death-- and in such a disgraceful genre, nonetheless-- Black Nolte kicked Divine out of the band, calling Martial Law. The band had begun it's end. The End Is NighModifyDeletemove ''The End Is Nigh In 1988 Black Nolte and Jessiclown hired Canadian bassmaster Malt Milkshake to assist them in producing a fourth album. On July 3rd Natural Born Pineapples released The End Is Nigh, a revelation influenced sci-fi epic. The album was a monster mash of biblical jargon and Area 51 hilarity. Although'' Nigh wasn\'t as well received as their other albums, it is still considered a success. After the albums release the band\'s arguments became more serious and fearing for his own life, Malt Milkshake left the band before the bombs dropped. Black Nolte begn acting like a total asshole and ran around claiming "I am the brains and dick of this band!". Jessiclown was in the midst of a drug addiction and it started to take a toll on her. Jessiclown Vomit left Luxembourg and moved to Italy. Black Nolte sold "The Bat Cave" and bought a house in Amsterdam. In early 1990, Nolte announced in an interview on BBC Radio 5 that the band was officially finished and did not explain why. Life After the Band ''Dead Crickets Over the next 2 bitter years, Jessiclown worked on her own solo album, aptly named Dead Crickets. Complications arose and pushed the release date back over a dozen times. Finally,'' Dead Crickets debuted to poor critical reviews, and was not commercially successful, never reaching the top 200 charts. Poor funding forced her to cut her European tour short, and return to the US where she received moderate success in local bars and street fairs. It was during this time she became engrossed in horticulture, longing to earn back the Natural Born Pineapple's fortune she gambled away on lottery tickets and pasta to pursue a future with plants. “In retrospect, it wasn't a very good idea.” She would agree in later years. Between 1992-94, she was arrested 6 times for shoplifting, disorderly conduct and public drunkenness. In 1995 she was discovered to be working as a barmaid in Chicago. She went back into hiding, and in November of 1997 published her autobiography ''The Soft Center of a Pineapple: My Life; detailing her drug and alcohol abuse, the widely publicized lawsuit with her mother, and the triumphs while a member of Natural Born Pineapples. Corpulescent Naked Toads In 1991 Black Nolte release Moldy Pineapple, a solo album. It was criticized heavily for it\\'s simularities to previous Natural Born Pineapples albums. For the years following fans would petition a reunion. In 1993 Black Nolte organized a new band called, Corpulescent Naked Toads. It was a harder and more trippy sound than Pineapples, but wasn't as memorable. The band released one album in 1994 titled, Dances With Fools. It was labeled with mixed reviews. In 1995 CNT toured the United States and England with dying band Oasis of Danger. The tour ended in early 1996 and so did the band. After CNT fell apart Nolte left the United States and went back to live in his Amsterdam home. Reunion In late 2000 rumors began swirling of a possible reunion of Natural Born Pineapples. former bass player Kelley Devine dismissed these rumors as "wishful thinking". In 2001 MTV tracked down Black Nolte and questioned him about the rumors on the internet. Black Nolte was quoted as saying "Pineapples are dead and never coming back. The dike and I are fucking done, professionally. As for Jessiclown, the only music that whore is making is the sound of her vag popping out another kid." In 2002 Jessiclown was interviewed and asked about Nolte's comments. She said " That fat bastard is losing more than his hair these days." In 2008 a long haired producer embarked on a journey to track down the members of Natural Born Pineapples. After months of searching he located both Jessiclown Vomit and Black Nolte. Kelley Devine wanted nothing to do with the Pineapples anymore. Toolsquatch offered the two a contract to do a reunion album and tour. The two aging musicians reluctantly agreed after long negotiations. In 2009 the band was officially reunited and began working on new material in Toolsquatch's personal studio in Chicago.